Project Summary The DF/HCC GI SPORE Career Enhancement Program (CEP) aims to provide resources, structure, and incentives to attract and support junior investigators in basic, translational, and clinical research on GI cancers. The overarching goal is to nurture the success and productivity of talented new researchers in GI cancers, promote their sustained interest and contributions to the field, and to enhance the GI SPORE community through contact with fresh ideas and talent. The CEP advances the independent research careers of junior faculty through three parallel approaches: (a) providing research support and exposure to established GI SPORE investigators; (b) helping refine projects and career goals through one-on-one and committee-based mentoring; and (c) access to Core resources that facilitate use of clinical tissue samples, genomic data, experimental model systems, and refined statistical and computational analyses. In these endeavors, the CEP specifically strives to attract minority and female investigators to the field. Over the past funding cycle, the CEP supported 19 highly qualified young investigators who have in short order made exceptional research and career advances in GI cancers; more than half these awardees are talented women and underrepresented minorities. The members and leadership of the GI SPORE have a substantial record in mentorship of junior faculty; more than 20 investigators supported over the last 10 years are now in tenure-track or tenured faculty positions in GI cancer research at leading institutions and cancer centers. The CEP follows a rigorous, equitable, and transparent process to identify, select, and mentor the finest young individuals drawn from all DF/HCC member institutions. The Governance and Review Committee ? led by outstanding senior mentors who represent the diversity of expertise and approaches required for a successful program in translational GI cancer research ? ensures optimal candidate selection, support, and both individual and Program oversight. The Specific Aims of the CEP are 1) Cultivate and maintain an efficient, fair, and successful system to identify promising young investigators seeking to become independent investigators in translational GI cancer research; 2) Provide funding and other supportive resources, while closely monitoring awardees' research progress and programmatic success; 3) Promote a mentoring environment that enables the career development of CEP awardees as well as other junior faculty; and 4) Develop the next generation of leaders in translational investigation of diverse GI cancers, including women and members of under-represented racial and ethnic minority groups.